


Familiar Heartbeats

by ElasticElla



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/F/M, Femme Scott, Multi, some Malia/Stiles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-03
Updated: 2014-09-03
Packaged: 2018-02-16 00:45:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2249586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElasticElla/pseuds/ElasticElla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Malia can't sleep alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Familiar Heartbeats

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted [here](http://elasticellaarchive.tumblr.com/post/93563482062/malia-cant-sleep-alone-discuss)

Malia can’t sleep (well) alone.

She’s known this ever since Echo House. Before she was in her father’s house, and hearing his breathing and the dog’s kept her calm throughout the night. At Echo House though she was alone again. It had only taken a night for her roommate to shrilly demand a new room, and none of her followers had much more luck. After four new roommates, they caved and allowed Malia to have her own room. The rooms were soundproofed all too well, an artificial silence keeping her from a deeper slumber. At least now though she didn’t have to worry about a stranger.

The dreams wouldn’t stop.

Alone she could hear their screams, could feel their bones snap. Alone the crash came like a wave, never-ending and repetitive. Each time she thinks she’ll be ready for the next assault- she’s seen it enough times by now- but the undertow grabs her again.

In the woods she only slept lightly. But in the woods, it didn’t matter. In the woods she didn’t dream, her ears were always pricked for predators. In the woods, she just survived.

Survival’s harder as a human, and not for the first time Malia wishes she could return to being a coyote. She hasn’t done a full shift since- she’s too scared to try. Scared for the memories to remain this time, scared for them not to and to forget it all, to just run until a cougar snacked on her corpse.

It changes after Stiles. He smells like pack easily, and she can relax curled around him. The dreams don’t come with his steady heartbeat, and she thinks victoriously that she won.

But then school starts, and Stiles somehow has even more homework than her. And he lets slip that he doesn’t sleep as well when they cuddle- it’s far too warm he explains with a blush and an awkward apology. Malia waves it off and kisses the tip of his nose; she had a whole pack now, she could make do.

She asks Lydia first. Lydia has made so many copies of her notes, Malia figures this will be nothing in comparison. But Lydia declines, saying her calendar is full for the month. Malia gains a new respect for the banshee’s scheduling, and goes to Scott. He is her Alpha after all, surely he’ll have a solution.

Malia’s beginning to feel like a gopher when Scott tells her to ask Kira. But at least Scott was on board, that was a start. She kept her toes crossed as she talked to Kira. Her backup plan was to go to Derek, and he really didn’t seem the cuddly sort. Peter also stayed with him sometimes that was an even stronger deterrent. Kira agreed happily, saying it’d been so long since she had a real sleepover- they could watch movies, eat ice cream, and dress Scott up.

The movies are fun, and Kira always has a new one that Malia needs to see. Scott sometimes picks them out too, but their tastes overlap a lot and Kira gets really excited about expanding Malia’s pop culture knowledge. The ice cream is much better than popcorn, and Malia doesn’t understand why popcorn is so popular at theaters. If she owned a theater, there would be soft serve machines everywhere. (The hard ice cream would of course only be in the main lobby.) The first time they play dress up with Scott, Malia doesn’t really get it- picking out his usual clothes, a green shirt and jeans. She figures her outfit should beat Kira’s- a pretty lavender dress- because Scott wears hers all the time. So Scott gently explains the point of dress up is to have fun, and to wear things you like that you might not otherwise. (Which leads to the question- ‘well why don’t you wear the lavender dress?’ and a long conversation about gender expression and society. Malia’s take away is that people suck, and Scott should be able to wear the pretty dress in public without worrying.) The next time they play, Malia applies the perfect shade of red lipstick for Scott and wins. (…okay so Kira keeps insisting it isn’t a competition. And she _might_ have asked Lydia for help on the shade.)

She still cuddles with Stiles some nights, and they have sex too sometimes. Stiles picks out nights he has less homework and the window stays open. They’re both happier this way. Heather visits one week- she had gone abroad for theater school- and Stiles asks if he can pursue anything with her. Malia’s baffled that he’s asking her- why wouldn’t he do something that makes him happy?- and he labels their relationship as open. Malia still thinks it’s silly, but it comforts Stiles so she doesn’t question him about the label, and wishes him good luck with his first love. (The outfit he wore was Malia-approved, and she was definitely making him wear it more often.)

She does ask Kira and Scott about the open label though. Kira explains the stability and grounding factor while they apply silver eyeshadow, and Malia hasn’t given up on how silly it feels, but she supposes it makes sense. And then Scott chimes in that Kira and him are in an open relationship, and the silliness dissipates.

Somehow they go from applying make up to Scott wearing lingerie, and Kira’s arms wrapped around her as Scott twirls to show off the ruffles. That night she sleeps soundly with the pair of familiar heartbeats echoing in her ears and their bodies tangled together.


End file.
